Pattern Making the Dragon Body

A (very) rough and ready guide to how I made the pattern for the dragon's body. I've been having battery problems with my camera so number of photos taken was curtailed by camera frustration. Apologies.

1) First make a form. Because this is a puppet body and requires arm access I built it around a piece of old PVC pipe. I measured the length of my forearm and marked it onto the pipe. Then I used tightly wrapped newspaper strips and masking tape to widen the circumference at the ends to the measurements at my wrist and widest point of my forearm. Don't forget to take into account the thickness of the foam you'll be using too. Over this "faux arm" I then built the shape I wanted out of tightly crumpled newspaper and masking tape and covered it with brown parcel tape. That's the stage the photo has progressed to.

2) Next wrap the form in cling film and then cover the cling film with masking tape. Use short strips, I made at least a double layer all over. Once it's covered with masking tape mark a mid-line from top to bottom and cut the cling film/masking tape layer in half with a craft knife, scalpel or razor blade. Peel the two halves off the form.

3) If you're anything like me your form won't be perfect and your halves won't quite be the same. Choose the nicest one and cut it until it lies flat. This is easier said than done. With outward curves cut from the outside to the highest point of the curve. You may need more than one cut to make a curve lie flat. Outward curves and inward curves don't work on the same piece of pattern, getting one to lie flat wil cause the other to tuck under itself. So separate sections with outward and inward curves, in my case the belly bulges out and the neck curves in. How you do it will depend on your shape. You may also want to separate just to make life easier for you. Label all of your seams so you don't confuse yourself.

4) I then drew my pattern out on good, strong white card and neatened it up a little before tracing it onto half inch polyfoam. Then I flipped it and traced it again so I got a mirror for the other side. Glue together, you can use hot glue but I prefer a contact cement like Barge or Evo-Stick Impact. Voila! One puppet body.

Extra tip: You never get a perfect circle at the ends for the arm and everything feels a little flimsy just using foam, so add something to strengthen things. Make a shallow slit in the foam all the way around the edge at the top and bottom ends and insert a ring of something, wire or plastic/rubber tubing, add glue to the edges and pinch the slit closed . I use the sort of curtain wire used for hanging net curtains. It's basically a plastic coated hollow wire spring and forms a nice strong but flexible circle. Measure out the curtain wire and cut to length. To make it into a circle glue a short length of strong wire into one end with a bit protruding, bend the other end round, add more glue to the wire joining piece and slide into the hole at the other end. Perfect circle and reinforcer for you neck and bottom holes.